This disclosure relates to a vehicle interior panel for covering an airbag. Furthermore, the disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a vehicle interior panel for covering an airbag.
It is known to provide foam-in-place interior panels having integrated airbag doors. For example, DE 10 2014 010 860 A1 discloses an interior panel comprising a substrate, an airbag chute-door assembly mounted to the substrate, a surface skin, and a foam disposed between the surface skin and the substrate, wherein the chute-door assembly comprises a door flap portion provided with a pre-weakening to facilitate clean airbag deployment.
However, opening of the airbag door during deployment of the airbag can lead to a substantial fragmentation of the foam. In particular, a rapid acceleration of the door flap portion can catapult fragments of foam into the interior space of the vehicle posing a safety hazard for a passenger.